Clichy joined City in a £7m deal in July and has so far been sharing left-back duties with Aleksandar Kolarov. He is keen to play as much as possible but accepts squad rotation is a necessity.

"When you sign for a club like City, with all those players, you have to be ready for the competition," he said.

"You have to keep rotating – I have been there with Arsenal. When you are not injured and not playing you feel a bit upset, but that will pay off after December because we are playing every three days and you need a big squad to go all the way through."